Balladeer's Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE
MELUNGEON VARIATIONS PART ONE
In the nine previous installments I reviewed the various surviving Fool Killer Letters recounting the folk figure's homicidal adventures in North Carolina, Virginia (including what is now West Virginia) and Kentucky.
Those tales presented the Milton Chronicle's Fool Killer from the late 1840s or early 1850s on through the late 1870s or possibly as late as 1880. That figure slew fools with his club/ walking stick/ cudgel and his set of Bowie knives, each blade inscribed with the words "Fool Killer."
The very first Fool Killer Letter by Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans' fictional Jesse Holmes has not survived, so if Evans made reference to being inspired by any older Fool Killer traditions we have no way of knowing it.
If he had, one possible source would be the Fool Killer figure from Melungeon folklore in East Tennessee and other Appalachian areas. Or, since we have no way of checking exact dates, Evans' darkly satirical tales may have influenced the existing Melungeon lore since Melungeons at the time were scattered from Tennessee to North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.
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